Improvement in cattle-guards for railways



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM DARRAI-I AND JACOB CUTSHALL, OF COSHOCTON, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN CATTLE-GUARDS FCR RAILWAVS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,709, dated December 12, 1871.

To all whom it may concern.' p

Be it known that we, WILLIAM DARRAH and JACOB CUTsHALL, both ot' Coshocton, in the county of Coshocton and State ot' Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Cattle-Guard for Railways; and We do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this speciiication and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The object of this invention is to provide a cattleguard for railway-crossings, constructed in such a manner that it will eft'ectually prevent cattle from straying onto the railway track, and which may be built and applied at little cost. The nature of this invention consists in a novel and peculiar arrangement of a series of horizontal bars in combination With a series oi' rafters or inclined supports and a railway track, the said bars being secured at or near the top ofthe said rafters, which latter are placed at any suitable angle of inclination and rest upon and are secured to a rectangular plate or frame; all being located in a suitable excavation under and across the track. The horizontal bars above mentioned are parallel with the rails, and are placed on a level with the under side otl the rails, or on a level with the upper surface oi' the ties or ot' the ballast, so as not to interfere with any portion ofthe engine or cars.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, We will proceed more particularly to describe the same.

Figure l represents a plan view of our irnproved Cattleguard. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same.

Letters ot like name and kind indicate like parts in each of the figures.

A A A represent the rafters, which may be made of suitable material and dimensions, and placed at any convenient distance apart. The

lower ends of these rafters rest upon and are secured to the plates B B, which are located at the bottom of an excavation, C, made transversely across the road-bed. At the angle or peak of the rafters A, and secured to the same, are horizontal bars D D of suitable length, the upper surfaces oi' which are on a level with the under side ofthe rails or with the upper surface ot' the ties or ballast, and which are placed in a position parallel with the rails E. These bars D D are supported and kept in position by means of cross-bars F, upon which they rest, and which serve to strengthen the structure. The excavation may be ot' any convenient depth, and the rafters maybe placed at any convenient angle of inclination, so that the upper surfaces o' the horizontal bars shall be on a level or nearly on a level with. the under side of the rails; and it Will be seen that our invention can be readily and easily applied on all railways where the ordinary iiat cattle-guard is now in use, as the depth of the excavation and angle ofthe rafters do not materially aiiect its operation; and We may also state that one ofthe horizontal bars D may be secured either to each pair of rafters or to each alternate pair, and in either case will present a surface upon which cattle Will not and cannot step.

Having thus described our invention, What We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

The arrangement of a series of horizontal bars, D D D, in combination with a series ot' rafters, A A A, and a railway track, substantially as herein shown and described, and for the purposes set forth.

WILLIAM DARRAH. JACOB CUTSHALL. YVitnesses:

D. C. BEACH,

J. IRVINE. (120) 

